Evening Programme

Prof. Kevin Bales (Prof. of Contemporary Slavery, Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation) author of Disposable People. New Slavery in the Global Economy

Abstract

Three hundred years ago the Treaty of Utrecht helped to end a terrible war, but it fostered a growth in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. One hundred and fifty years ago the Netherlands abolished slavery as part of the great movement to end legal slavery. On this double anniversary we have arrived at a unique historical moment, when slavery is so diminished, so little a part of our global society and economy that it stands on the precipice of its own extinction – if we choose to take steps to bring it to an end. Allow me, your Highness, to suggest provisions that you might propose that will establish a global movement that will eradicate slavery in the same way that global health campaigns have ended smallpox. An historic new Treaty of Utrecht that will be De nous, chez nous, avec nous.